Old St. Luke’s Church, Burial Ground and Garden 330 Old Washington Pike Scott Township, Pennsylvania 15106 APRIL 2014—Vol. XXXIII - NO. 1 The 2014 Membership Appeal begins In 1902, the message board outside the Church’s front door listed “Sunday service, School and Di- vine Service, the Rev. W. E. Allen, Rector” and a notice: “SEATS FREE—ALL WELCOME.” Easter Sunrise Service Sunday, April 20 at 6:30 a.m. Before 1900, (Old) St. Luke’s Church was sup- ported by renting pews to mem- bers of the congregation. The The Rev. Richard Pollard pews were numbered on the pew ends. Today, some 100 years The Rev. Scott Quinn later, “seats” are still free and all Lawrence Weiss, violinist are welcome, but programs, resto- Stephen Weiss, violinist ration and maintenance are not without cost. Jeff Gray Organist We ask all who are Friends of Old St. Luke’s to make an Annual Membership donation of $15, or Saturday more, to help us by a donation, by joyful participa- Evening Worship tion in Christian worship, programs, and by prizing our amazing history. Since we do not have a con- The Celebration of Holy Communion gregation, your Annual Membership is one way we can learn your name and of your support. will begin on April 26 at 6 p.m. and continue each week to May 25 New Web Master is Named .. Later This Year We are pleased to announce that Eric O’Brien has been The Saturday Celebration of Holy Communion named our next web master of www.oldsaintlukes.org. Eric is the web master for Christ Episcopal Church, will resume September 6, until November 22. North Hills, and is recognized by the Communications Department of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The Thanksgiving Vesper Service, with In Memoriam Prayers, will be offered In 1995 Carnegie Library assisted us to begin a web on Sunday, November 23 site. Dorothy Kelly was our first web master. In 1998 Richard Gideon offered to design a full web site, and he The Christmas Evensong will be offered has been our volunteer master ever since. He retired on Sunday, December 14 on March 31, and we extend to him our boundless ap- preciation for his generosity and skill. Old St. Luke’s Church, c/o 300 Madison Ave., #309, Pittsburgh Pa 15243 www.oldsaintlukes.org Religion and Federal Buildings We invite your participation “...not neglecting to meet together…” Hebrews 10:25 Each summer, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, we hold Open House Sun- On December 4, 1800 Congress approved the use of day afternoons from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Last the newly completed Capitol building for religious ser- year we welcomed a larger number of vices. One reason was that there were no churches in guests than in prior years. Dorothy Washington at that time. This courtesy lasted until after Kelly, a member of our Board, coordi- the Civil War and into Reconstruction. Even after many nates the schedule of docents who take churches were established in Washington, religious ser- a turn one Sunday a summer, with a vices still continued at the Capitol. Board member, to show this historic church and Burial Ground and Garden. A year before Thomas Jefferson recommended in 1802 We invite your participation. Call Doro- that there should be a “wall of separation between thy Kelly at 412-489-3803 for details. church and state,” he attended Protestant church ser- vices in the House of Representatives. While he was President (1801-1809) Jefferson permitted church ser- vices in executive branch buildings, because he saw 1823 Pipe Organ Has a Cipher them to be nondiscriminatory and voluntary. Jefferson's concern for “separation” focused on opposing an official Our 1823 Joseph Harvey pipe organ has had several state church, rather than excluding religion from govern- repairs over its 191 years. The Rev. Victor Zuck re- ment. Catholic priests began officiating in 1826. placed the hand pumped bellows with a German made electric motor. A few years ago, the sound board split Many of Jefferson’s succeeding Presidents, up to Abra- and was replaced by Walt Atkins, our organ specialist. ham Lincoln, also attended church at the Capitol, Mem- When our organist Fred Schell on bers of Congress also attended those services. From March 24 prepared for our first 1807 to 1857, services were held in what is now called wedding service, he found a ci- Statuary Hall. These services were interdenominational pher (an air leak). We found one and were overseen by the chaplains appointed by the organ dealer with an available House and Senate. electronic organ, which we have rented on a monthly basis until Gradually, in addition to one service being held in the our pipe organ is repaired. Hall of the House of Representatives, up to four congre- gations met in the Capitol each week for worship. In 1867, the First Congregational Church in Washington Question about Stephen C. Foster utilized worship space for nearly 2,000 every Sunday in the Hall of Representatives while they raised funds to build their own sanctuary. At that time, that congregation Stephen Collins Foster died on January 13, 1864, 150 became the largest church in the city. Church services years ago, and his funeral was held in Trinity Episcopal were also held at times in the Supreme Court Chamber Church, Sixth Avenue. He was born in Pittsburgh on as well as in the Senate Chamber. July 4, 1826 and on April 2, 1827 he was baptized in Trinity Church. He attended Jefferson College, (today, References: W. and J. College) but he was a poor student. His real “American Patriot Bible,” Dr. Richard G. Lee, page 1390 interest was music, and while his favorite instrument “Religion and Federal Buildings,” Library of Congress was the flute, he also played the violin, piano, guitar and other instruments. This raises a question, perhaps never to be answered. The Rev. Jacob Duche (1737-1798) pastor of Christ Church, Philadelphia, officiated at the wedding of Did Foster ever play our 1823 William Lea and Dorathy Nelson, our benefactors, pipe organ at Trinity Church? February 2, 1774. Duche became the first chaplain of the Continental Congress and delivered their first Foster as an adult lived in Pittsburgh prayer on September 7, 1774. On July 9, 1776 he only for a decade, from age 24 to also was named the first chaplain of the U. S. Con- 34. He worked in Cincinnati before gress. In 1777 the church asked him to stop praying age 24, and from age 34 he lived in for the King of England. He obliged. British forces New York City until his death. He arrested him briefly for this treason. Pennsylvania died with 36 cents in his pocket. He confiscated his property for asking Washington to is buried in Allegheny Cemetery, lay down arms and negotiate with the British. He Pittsburgh fled to England. He returned to Philadelphia in 1792. stadt, or City of Peace, north of Wampum Village, by War, Moravians and Neolin today’s Rt. 18 at the corner of Penndale Road. The church was transferred beside the Tuscarawas River in n It has been said that many Christians are distressed Ohio in 1773. when teachers of American history omit its religious ele- ments. However, a good example of the union of Ameri- n In 1761, Neolin, a Native American, was known as can and Christian history comes from the close of the the Delaware Prophet, who appreciated Christianity and French (British) and Indian War, 1754-1763, and how it perhaps even The Great Awakening movement. No impacted our local history and religious commitment. doubt he was touched by the Moravian missionaries. He began to preach prophetically that the “Master of n This seven year war, triggered by George Washing- Life” told him that the way to Heaven was to reject Euro- ton, was fought by the British to expel the French troops pean practices and return to traditional native ways. He and fur traders, and their Native American allies, from said that diseases and food shortages were the signs of the area below the Great Lakes extending to Fort Pitt. It the Master’s displeasure, so repent and turn from alco- ended with the Treaty of Paris,1763, which brought forth hol and resume monogamous marriage and sexual mo- great displeasure for Native Americans over the British rality. One of Neolin’s disciples was Pontiac, the Ottawa victory, and the postwar policies that British Gen. Jeffrey chief, who accepted Neolin’s message. Pontiac could Amherst imposed upon them. The instigator of the hos- seek salvation except that it had to include warfare to tile reaction was the Ottawa chief named Pontiac. What drive the British Army out of their tribal lands. he began in 1763 is called Pontiac’s War. n Pontiac repeated Neolin’s teachings to the Indian n In 1758 the British first promised that white settlers confederacy, and in May 1763, they initiated almost si- would not go westward into tribal land. In 1763 (the multaneous attacks on British forts. They began with Ft. 250th anniversary was October, 2013) King George III Detroit, and then locally against Forts Presque Isle, Le issued a Royal Proclamation that the demarcation line Boeuf, and Venango, which were destroyed. Fort Pitt was determined by whether the headwaters of the rivers was hit in June, 1763 and placed under siege into July. flowed on the east or west side of the Appalachian Forts Ligonier and Bedford were hit but not destroyed. mountains. White settlers, like our benefactor William Gen. Amherst ordered that captured Indians be put to Lea, crossed the mountain and staked their claims in death, even by sending blankets infected with small pox Indian territory.